This one flew under the radar - hadn't heard of it until today.

Watched the first couple of minutes of the trailer. Typical catastrophe porn.

[X] window *click*

DamnYankees: It already came out overseas? Has that ever happened before, a major studio film opening internationally well before opening in the US?

Tintin.

t3knomanser: Americans want to see movies featuring American characters prominently.

The pr0n movie industry says no.

Zombie DJ:
Oh, or are we going to spew the whole "hollywood will make more of theses movies and less artsy films"?


Top grossing films 2011:
1. Harry Potter 8: sequel
2.Transformers:Dark of the Moon: sequel
3.Twilight: Breaking Dawn: sequel
4. Hangover 2 : sequel
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: sequel
6. Fast Five: sequel
7. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocal: sequel
8. Cars 2: sequel
9. Sherlock Holmes: sequel
10. Thor: hooray not a sequel

Now compare that to the list of top grossing movies from 20+ years ago and you'll find at most 2 or 3 remakes/sequels.

It seems like Hollywood really started to suck when Spiderman came out.

I plan on taking my grandpa because there's a part where they have to destroy their newer boats and use an old fashion navy ship, along with an older crew. Since he is ex-navy I expect that he will see the way they pay homage to vets in the movie, turn to me and say 'fark this shiat, get me back to the hospital before I fill this diaper'.

It will be a bonding moment.

archichris: El Brujo: It seems like Hollywood really started to suck when Spiderman came out.

When the make "boggle" the movie I'm done.

And there is no way I will see a crapfest like Battleship.

Chutes and Ladders is gonna be the shiat.

For me, almost all of these kinds of movies now look like video games, with the absurd use of bad cgi. Being someone who doesn't play video games, I think these movies like Transformers and their ilk look farking retarded.

/don't know why I'm complainIng, I go to the theater maybe once a year. Last one was John Carter...see above.

just finished watching Attack the Block, Great, lov it

Have people here seen what passes for an action film overseas? The sh*t they make in their home countries make Transformers look like the f*cking Bridge Over The River Kwai... even when they aren't obligated to throw in a retarded random musical number.

Bungles: DamnYankees: It already came out overseas? Has that ever happened before, a major studio film opening internationally well before opening in the US?


We watch them with the same intent as when Victorians in London went to zoos see entire African village populations in cages. The spectacle of a bizarre culture.

Lets not act like foreign films arent just as sucky, I would say almost everything bollywood puts out is complete crap and would make battlefield earth look like citizen kane.

browntimmy: Zombie DJ:
Oh, or are we going to spew the whole "hollywood will make more of theses movies and less artsy films"?


Top grossing films 2011:
1. Harry Potter 8: sequel
2.Transformers:Dark of the Moon: sequel
3.Twilight: Breaking Dawn: sequel
4. Hangover 2 : sequel
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: sequel
6. Fast Five: sequel
7. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocal: sequel
8. Cars 2: sequel
9. Sherlock Holmes: sequel
10. Thor: hooray not a sequel

Now compare that to the list of top grossing movies from 20+ years ago and you'll find at most 2 or 3 remakes/sequels.

Challenge accepted.

Top grossing movies of 1991. (new window)

Terminator 2: Judgment Day: Sequel
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves: Remake
Beauty and the Beast: Remake
Hook:Sequel
The Silence of the Lambs: Adaptation from a novel.
JFK: Historical drama.
The Addams Family: Remake
Cape Fear: Remake
Hot Shots!: a spoof, but still original characters and plot.
City Slickers: Original.

There's one movie in that list that's original, in terms of characters and situations. Three if you want to be *very* generous.

If we go further back:

Top grossing films of 1966 (new window)

Hawaii: Adaptation from a novel
The Bible: In the Beginning: Adaptation
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Adaptation from a play
The Sand Pebbles: Adapted from a novel
A Man for All Seasons: Based on a play
The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming: Adapted from a play
Grand Prix: Original
The Professionals: Based on a novel
Madame X: Original
Alfie: Adapted from a novel and play.


Hollywood has been recycling ideas for as long as it's been around. It's rare to have them produce a truly original movie. Even in the 40s and 50s, most were adaptations of novels or plays. I consider movies that get there plot and characters from different media to be remakes, but I can see how some would argue against it.

Surool: Have people here seen what passes for an action film overseas? The sh*t they make in their home countries make Transformers look like the f*cking Bridge Over The River Kwai... even when they aren't obligated to throw in a retarded random musical number.

Bullshiat. Troll Hunter is even way better than Transformers, and that's not getting to action movies like Ong Bak, The Raid: Redeption, IP Man, The Good, The Bad and The Weird, etc. Even the Luc Besson District B-13 and sequel, which were mindless action movies, are better and don't prey on nostalgia to carry the movie. There's a lot of countries overseas, not just bollywood movies. Hell, even those aren't so bad. In Transformers 2 the movie switch from drama to comedy to action to romance every 60 seconds. The best Bollywood movies have all of that but give it time to develop, which is why they're 3+ hours long.

rustypouch: Hollywood has been recycling ideas for as long as it's been around. It's rare to have them produce a truly original movie. Even in the 40s and 50s, most were adaptations of novels or plays. I consider movies that get there plot and characters from different media to be remakes, but I can see how some would argue against it.

They would argue against it because its stupid, you can take the same plays and put a different take on them, our biggest biatch lately is hollywood isnt even doing that, what they are basically doing is taking comic books, throwing a bunch of 'spolsions up there and hoping people show up.

People are stupid so they always show up.

rynthetyn: And as far as Bollywood goes, the over-the-top elements in Bollywood musicals are just as much genre tropes as various elements in American movies. It's just that we're so used to the tropes in American movies that we don't notice just how ridiculous and over-the-top they are.

Yes we do and most of us are sick of that shiat, but bollywood has been unchanged since the 60s.

John Carter has made $195 million dollars overseas. Probably more as the studio doesn't seem interested in releasing the Chinese BO totals and it hasn't opened in Japan yet. And some of those totals are a week old.

/still a bomb

I despise Bay's 'work', but loved this. He could seriously take some pointers from Berg on how NOT to insult your audience

As usual Farkers seem to think that Europeans don't watch movies unless they deal with the complex eroticism of two cousins in love, and only eat at small cafes.

Sometimes they just want to be entertained. They don't want to walk out of a theater with a new world view, they want to walk out thinking "I was amused for a couple of hours"

Sometimes they want to eat McDonalds. Contrary to popular belief, McDonalds aren't filled with nothing but American tourists. (That would be the Irish Pubs).

Teknowaffle: As usual Farkers seem to think that Europeans don't watch movies unless they deal with the complex eroticism of two cousins in love, and only eat at small cafes.

THIS

Go to regional France and look at what's playing and you won't actually see much of the Haneke/Truffaut/Godard art house movies. French people, contrary to popular myth, are no more sophisticated than Americans or Britons. The big french movies in France are comedies, most of which never leave the country.

As far as I care, the more people in the world that get to enjoy Hawaii scenery porn (which is supposed to have a scene or two in the movie from what I've heard), the better.

JosephFinn: Whatever. Let's all go see Cabin in the Woods again.

How awesome was that movie?

DamnYankees: Five of the top ten highest grossing movies of all time don't feature American characters.

That's kinda a self-selecting sample, though. Movies that are top grossing are, by definition, exceptional films. The big hits are not the weekly bread-and-butter of a movie studio.

DamnYankees: t3knomanser: Americans won't go see movies that aren't about Americans.

I'm not sure I see any evidence of this. Five of the top ten highest grossing movies of all time don't feature American characters.

What list are you using? World wide gross, adjusted for inflation or just domestic?

Carth: What list are you using? World wide gross, adjusted for inflation or just domestic?

Hrm, now that you bring it up, if we do US gross without inflation, my argument looks stronger. It's still a self-selecting sample, and we'd be better off looking at the grosses for a single year.

Still, as a general rule, Americans seem to like movies about Americans or Americanish fantasy characters.

Mugato: Yeah because there are so many Chinamen in Bollywood movies. I don't really see your point.

The point was, "That's why studio executives didn't like Attack the Block."

It was a workable kids vs. aliens movie- nothing exciting, but had it been a movie about Americans, it would have made huge amounts of money stateside.

t3knomanser: Mugato: Yeah because there are so many Chinamen in Bollywood movies. I don't really see your point.

The point was, "That's why studio executives didn't like Attack the Block."

It was a workable kids vs. aliens movie- nothing exciting, but had it been a movie about Americans, it would have made huge amounts of money stateside.

I tried watching attack the block but was turned off when what appeared to be the protagonists robbed a random women in the first 5 minutes and seemed like assholes. Is it worth trying again? I was surprised how high it was rated on Rottentomatoes since I usually love movies in the 90% range.

Carth: I tried watching attack the block but was turned off when what appeared to be the protagonists robbed a random women in the first 5 minutes and seemed like assholes. Is it worth trying again?

Like I said- it's okay. The protagonists start off as bad guys, but that's so they have an arc to develop through. You're not missing anything by not having seen it, but it's worth sitting through.

First John Carter now this. Taylor Kitsch needs a new manager because if your big movie co-stars Rihanna you probably shouldn't do that movie.

Bungles: Mugato: Bungles: We watch them with the same intent as when Victorians in London went to zoos see entire African village populations in cages. The spectacle of a bizarre culture.

And yet Americans don't do the same thing with ridiculous foreign movies. Maybe Bollywood movies if we're really high.



I've seen US tv where they subtitle the softest Scottish accent. I suspect the US doesn't have much of an appetite for foreign.

US TV will subtitle American accents.

/don't be cajun or black
//first time I saw it was about '92, on a young Chicago woman

red5ish: t3knomanser: Americans want to see movies featuring American characters prominently.

The pr0n movie industry says no.

The American porn industry creates movies where non-Americans screw non-Americans...... or non-whites screw non-whites... ? or the American porn industry caters to an audience whose approval of non-Americans extends only to making sure those non-Americans are coupled with Americans?

t3knomanser: DamnYankees: Five of the top ten highest grossing movies of all time don't feature American characters.

That's kinda a self-selecting sample, though. Movies that are top grossing are, by definition, exceptional films. The big hits are not the weekly bread-and-butter of a movie studio.

Exceptional, better marketing, or the folks with the most dollars know what they want to see -- and they want to see folks who look like themselves, or whom they want to be?

TOP TEN WORLDWIDE: http://www.imdb.com/boxoffice/alltimegross?region=world-wide
1. Avatar
- Americans Voiced By Whites versus Big Blue Native Americans Voiced by Blacks
2. Titanic
- White American Boy Seduces White British Girl While White Irish Children Die; British Girl Lives
3. Harry Potter
- White Brits
4. Transformers
- Giant Robots Voiced By White Americans Versus White Americans (with apologies to Tyrese, who deserves better)
5. Lord of the Rings
-White Brits/New Zealanders Versus Scary Mudpeople Voiced by Whites with an assist by Arabs on Oliphants
6. Pirates of the Caribbean
- White Brits with a White American leading on both sides of the shenanigans
7. Toy Story 3
- Cartoon rendering of a White American household, voiced by Whites
8. Pirates of the Caribbean
- see #6
9. Alice in Wonderland
- see #6 (!)
10. The Dark Knight
- White Americans



DamnYankees, what list were you looking at (since there are like eleventybillion on that IMDb page)?

DamnYankees: It already came out overseas? Has that ever happened before, a major studio film opening internationally well before opening in the US?

Overseas pirates.

E_Henry_Thripshaws_Disease: just finished watching Attack the Block, Great, lov it

Attack the Block reminded me of the trailer park scene in Mars Attack, except it was a whole movie about it. I'd like to see more movies like that, instead of crap like Skyline (which should have started 10 minutes before the ending, and jettisoned the rest that came before).

/a year without any references to Los Angeles or New York in any American movie would be fly

He blew up my old office in Hong Kong.
That's worth the price of a ticket.

t3knomanser: Carth: I tried watching attack the block but was turned off when what appeared to be the protagonists robbed a random women in the first 5 minutes and seemed like assholes. Is it worth trying again?

Like I said- it's okay. The protagonists start off as bad guys, but that's so they have an arc to develop through. You're not missing anything by not having seen it, but it's worth sitting through.

I enjoyed it. For the same reasons I enjoyed District 9 (I acknowledge they are two entirely different movies, and District 9 earned its Oscar nod that year in my mind.).

They both felt like something distinctly non-American, if that's a thing (no, as an American, I'm not saying that foreign products are generally superior, they just offered an atmosphere and subtle choices in storytelling that American movies probably would not have made; by and large, I feel the same way about Guillermo Del Toro's foreign films as well).

As for the OP, and I don't mean to come off as an asshole by pointing this out, but do you need every movie to have your protagonists be good guys through and through? Heck, the movie does its fair share of doling out justice against bad people anyway.

/must dig up my copy of Pan's Labyrinth
//oh, how I love Guillermo Del Toro

Six_By_Nine: They both felt like something distinctly non-American, if that's a thing

I agree. District 9 felt closer to what I'd expect in an American film. As a big fan of "Doctor Who", Attack the Block did a good job scratching my anglophile itch.

Bloody William: JosephFinn: Whatever. Let's all go see Cabin in the Woods again.

How awesome was that movie?

I thought it was cute but that was about it. Just more meta bullshiat. I get it. Certain genres have standard tropes and aren't you guys clever for pointing them out.

*eye roll*

/good movie, just unsatisfying. completely uninvested in any of the characters
//wanted a different ending and didn't see nearly enough of the ending I got
///the first movie of the Scream franchise did this so much better

I want to see Attack the Block soooo bad. I haven't seen it available anywhere here yet though.
As far as the whole Battleship thing goes, that looks like a Redbox rental for me. It looks like the mindless crap that will be worth a buck. I'll be damned if I'm going to pay to see it in a theater. Also, you guys are making me want to see Cabin in the Woods even though I hate horror movies.
If you like foreign films, check into Penelope Cruz's work in Spain. Sin Noticias de Dios is a beautiful movie that features an agent of Heaven and an agent of Hell fighting for the soul of an a-hole boxer. I can't remember the name, but there is also one with her killing her husband and dealing with her mom's ghost that is unbelievable. Twisty, turny, and with a very hot Penelope friggin Cruz.

t3knomanser: Carth: What list are you using? World wide gross, adjusted for inflation or just domestic?

Hrm, now that you bring it up, if we do US gross without inflation, my argument looks stronger. It's still a self-selecting sample, and we'd be better off looking at the grosses for a single year.

Still, as a general rule, Americans seem to like movies about Americans or Americanish fantasy characters.

Well looking at the worldwide list it seems most of the world likes watching movies about americans since even on the non-usa list its virtually the same except for the harry potter series, were hollywood films not given large releases over seas back in the 70s? I would think star wars would have been huge over seas too.